A USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee investigation: Lawmakers used campaign donations to pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars in purchases in 2016, raising ethics and accountability questions.
Ayrika Whitney, The Tennessean

The report indicates Durham broke at least six individual state laws, but the board arrived at the 500 violations number based on Durham purportedly breaking the same law many times. The audit is the culmination of an investigation from June 2016.
Dave Boucher, Karen Kraft / The Tennessean

All of this campaign money was spent months after Ramsey announced he would not seek re-election.

The party, at the former home of Alan Jackson, a sprawling estate in Williamson County that’s become a popular location for GOP events, was a thank you for lawmakers and donors, Ramsey said.

“I’m a big 'Andy Griffith' fan. ... I could tell you every episode and everything that’s ever been said on 'Andy Griffith,' ” Ramsey said in a recent phone interview.

Ramsey said he could justify using donor money to pay for the party expenses, noting that’s why he had a campaign account.

The party expenses are among hundreds of thousands of dollars in purchases lawmakers used campaign donations to pay for in 2016 reviewed in a A USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee investigation. The investigation of hundreds of campaign finance records found lawmakers spent:

When told about the findings of this investigation, Gov. Bill Haslam said a state review of campaign finance practices may be necessary.

“I do think whether it be public money or donor money we have a higher level of responsibility to make certain we use that as either the taxpayer intended it or as the donor intended it to be used,” Haslam said Tuesday.

Recently retired longtime state Rep. David Shepard, D-Dickson, said there is evidence of a broader problem.

“I think the thing that bothers me the most now is legislators think they need to develop a war chest so that people won’t run against them,” said Shepard, who served 16 years in the legislature before opting not to run for office in 2016.

“It’s kind of sitting there, and they think it’s wetting their whistle, so to speak. Maybe they think they’re justified in using it for personal reasons.”

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, said, "A number of these might fall within the definition of the law, but they certainly appear to raise flags and probably should warrant a little more description.”

McNally said a legislative review of what is considered an allowable use of campaign funds might be worthwhile.

House Speaker Beth Harwell, a Nashville Republican who spent more than $2,000 on flowers last year out of her political action committee, also said it could be time for a broader review.

But the USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee investigation reveals many parallels between Durham's spending and that of other lawmakers.

Among Durham’s purportedly illegal purchases were wedding gifts, sunglasses, membership dues, dry cleaning, a handgun permit, tickets to sporting events and hundreds of dollars on food and concessions. After a six-month review by campaign finance officials, more than 60 purchases were deemed illegal because they were for personal use.

Rep. Mike Sparks, R-Smyrna, spent $230 at Watkins College, a small arts school in Nashville, for “education,” $100 on “video work for TCAT” — a common moniker for the Tennessee College of Applied Technology — and an additional $99 at an undisclosed location for “class.”

Campaign officials said Durham illegally spent money by using campaign funds to pay for continuing education fees for being an attorney. State law says campaign funds can’t be spent on tuition payments, “other than those associated with training campaign staff or associated with an officeholder’s duties.”

Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, spent $346 in campaign money on “meals and entertainment” at the University of Tennessee on the first day of football practice. The Durham audit said $54 he spent at a UT football game at Nissan Stadium was illegal.

Late last year, Rep. Jimmy Eldridge, R-Jackson, purchased a wedding gift for $137. It was the fourth wedding gift he had bought with campaign money since 2012. In total, Eldridge has spent almost $550 on wedding gifts using campaign donations. The Durham audit also said wedding gifts are banned.

A spokesman for House Republicans declined to address the individual expenses highlighted in the analysis.

“These expenditures come from private donations of supporters who trust their local lawmakers to spend contributions as they are needed. All of the expenditures are open to the public and disclosed with full transparency,” said Doug Kufner, a press secretary for the House GOP.

While lawmakers may rationalize the expenses, governments create checks on how candidates can use their campaign funds in order to avoid the potential for corruption, said Brendan Fischer, an attorney with the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit advocacy group.

“If a donor can give to a candidate, and then the candidate can use that money for whatever they want, they can live a lavish lifestyle, or (pay for) travel expenses or oil changes or whatever, then the contribution looks like less of a campaign contribution and more like a gift, which has much more of a corrupting potential,” Fischer said.

Flowers and private clubs

Sen. Bill Ketron touts his conservative values, but uses his campaign funds more liberally than some of his colleagues.

The Murfreesboro Republican's suspect purchases last year included more than $16,000 of campaign money to pay for car washes, vehicle registration tags, SiriusXM Radio fees, oil changes, Christmas gifts, MTSU basketball tickets and an alumni membership to MTSU.

Ketron said the tickets were for constituents. The renowned MTSU sports fan recently was on national television sitting behind the team bench at a basketball game in Milwaukee during the NCAA tournament. Ketron said his auto-related expenses were for the truck he uses for campaigning — the same vehicle he drives to the legislature each day.

The Murfreesboro Republican did not face re-election in 2016.

He is among numerous lawmakers who've faced media scrutiny in the past over possible double dipping and inappropriate expenses.

State law specifically prohibits lawmakers from using campaign funds to pay for dues, fees or gratuities at country clubs, health clubs or recreational facilities.

That didn’t stop White, a West Tennessee Republican, from spending $1,970 for dues at the Crescent Club, a private dinner club in Memphis, or Sen. Reggie Tate, D-Memphis, who spent $360 on a membership at the Nashville City Club, a private dinner club. Tate also wasn’t up for re-election in 2016.

Rep. Charles Sargent, R-Franklin, paid $110 in “dues/memberships” to Always in Bloom, a florist in Franklin. Sargent said calling the expense a membership was an error.

The payment is among $13,000 in flower purchases lawmakers made last year. Some of them are specifically noted for funeral arrangements, but the vast majority are only labeled “flowers” on disclosure forms.

Brent Ferguson, an attorney for the Brennan Center for Justice, a public policy and law institute at New York University Law School, said these types of purchases should be further scrutinized.

“It’s certainly a violation of trust of people who are giving them campaign money,” Ferguson said, speaking generally about lawmakers using donor contributions on questionable purchases.

Loopholes

Regulatory oversight of how lawmakers spend their money is murky.

The reports examined in this analysis include almost $190,000 in unitemized purchases — expenditures typically less than $100. Campaign finance officials do not make lawmakers provide details for these expenses, and scrutiny of these items is almost nonexistent.

Additionally, there is a loophole that allows candidates and lawmakers to get around the $100 expense threshold for detailed reporting.

Officials can report multiple, smaller expenses as one, larger unitemized expense, as long as those smaller expenses are each less than $100.

“Expenditures totaling one hundred dollars ($100) or less to a single payee during the reporting period are not required to be itemized. These expenditures may be broken down and totaled by general categories (such as gas, food, etc.),” states a Tennessee campaign finance guideline.

“For example, purchases of twenty-five dollars ($25) of gas at five different service stations would be shown as ‘Gas — $125.' ”

This practice could create an avenue for lawmakers to hide possible double dipping. Without having to report the date of a food purchase or specific gas purchase that is less than $100, it would be impossible for a quick review to show whether that expense covered something already paid for by a legislative per diem or mileage payment.

Some lawmakers have very few unitemized expenditures on their reports. Others, like Rep. Harold Love, had hundreds of unitemized expenditures in 2016. The Nashville Democrat had more than 500 unitemized expenses covering thousands of dollars in food, gas, air travel, auto expenses, utilities, supplies, taxis, telephone expenses, conference registrations, hotels and alumni association payments.

The unitemized expenses for Love, who is a pastor of Lee Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, range from 97 cents to $2,500. They include travel payments to two church conferences for his denomination. In a statement, Love explained his expenses, saying they were legitimate.

The expenditures by Love and many of his colleagues went unnoticed by campaign finance officials. The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance randomly audits just 2 percent of campaign accounts every two years.

And the registry has one auditor.

Complicating oversight and accountability, lawmakers give the registry its enforcement power, but significant fines against legislators rarely are levied or collected.

“In an ideal world, you would hope the Tennessee registry would catch some of these on the front end. But at least there’s a complaint process by which citizens or advocacy groups can file a complaint and seek an investigation when they see something like this,” Fischer said.